Motor Neurone Disease - Neuropsychology

Are you interested in being referred to neuropsychology?

Has it been suggested that a referral to neuropsychology would be helpful?

Clinical Neuropsychologists can provide two types of support for people with MND:

1. Psychological Therapy

It can be difficult to adjust to hearing you have a neurological condition and all the changes that this may bring in your life. Psychological therapy can help you to consider how to adjust to a diagnosis of motor neurone disease.

Therapy can also offer ways to help you to manage anxiety, stress or low mood. This may be one-to-one or you can attend with a relative or loved one. If you are referred for therapy, you will be offered an initial assessment appointment to discuss your particular difficulties and to set some goals. If it is thought that you would benefit from therapy then you would be offered further appointments.

(Dr Selina Makin provides psychological therapy following funding from the Motor Neurone Disease Association.)

What others have said:

• Very positive, friendly and self-empowering
• It helped relationships, to deal with family problems
• [It helped by] putting things into perspective
• [Therapy] gave me confidence

2. Neuropsychological Assessment

Some people observe changes with their memory or thinking abilities. You may notice that you are speaking your mind more or you have problems with motivation, concentration, attention, planning, organisation or word-finding.

If you are worried about these, we can carry out a neuropsychological assessment, which involves completing puzzles, tasks and memory tests that can help us and you to understand the specific problems you may have. In this way, we can also keep an eye on any changes over time.

Look on the website for more information about neuropsychological testing: https://www.thewaltoncentre.nhs.uk/departments-and-services/neuropsychology-department/394832 

Referrals 

Please speak to a member of staff during your appointment at The Walton Centre if you think a referral to neuropsychology would be helpful. Referrals can be made via any of the MND multidisciplinary team. They would be happy to discuss this with you.